Partners (En)

The Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) is an independent nonprofit environmental protection organization. Since its foundation in 1975, DUH has grown steadily. Deutsche Umwelthilfe is also a consumer protection organization and has been entitled to go to law on behalf of consumers since 2004. The organization runs projects on transport and air quality, climate change and energy, nature conservation, local environmental protection, recycling and consumer protection. DUH has built a large network among regional, national and European stakeholders and cooperates environmental organizations, regional partners and innovative companies.

DUH is member of the umbrella organizations European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and Federation of Transport and Environment (T&E). DUH is one of the five most important environmental protection organizations in Germany. When it comes to air pollution, it assumes a leading role for joint campaigns with the other environmental organizations. It is highly experienced in coordinating LIFE projects and multinational partnerships. The DUH has set up the Emission Control Institute (EKI). The aim of the EKI is to identify the extent to which pollutants affect air quality and to what extent and where. Since May 2016, the EKI has been running its own exhaust emissions tests of vehicles and has been testing the ambient air. Since September 2015, the DUH has had individual passenger cars made by various manufacturers checked.

Transport & Environment (T&E)’s mission is to promote, at European and global level, a transport policy based on the principles of sustainable development. T&E has contributed to a number of high-profile EU policy changes such as binding standards for more fuel-efficient cars and vans. Vehicles in the EU cause a fifth of the CO2 emissions and consume around five billion Euro of imported oil a week – a significant cost to the EU economy and consumers. Vehicle testing in laboratories and on the road is the basis for a variety of vehicle-related regulations, including type-approval and fuel efficiency standards. The current systems for testing vehicles are not fit for purpose.

Over the past years, T&E has developed sound technical expertise on vehicle testing and has been campaigning for a robust system for testing and labelling vehicles. T&E is the only environmental NGO participating regularly in relevant expert groups on European level. T&E pursues an evidence-based approach inputting into legislative procedures and stakeholder processes, assembling evidence through consultancy reports; own testing; in-house research and building on academic work. The introduction of the new WLTP test and real-world air pollution tests are important steps forward but will not deliver the whole solution. T&E advocates for revising the way vehicles are tested and propose this as part of a planned revision to Type Approval Regulations that DG Growth is planning for late 2015 or 2016.

Specifically T&E campaigns for:

– a shift away from laboratory testing to real world testing in order to restrict the ability of car manufacturers to abuse flexibilities in laboratory tests;

– a shift away from Type Approval testing of pre-production prototype cars to more checks on in-service conformity that show production vehicles operate within environmental limits;

– a European Type Approval Authority to replace or oversee National Authorities possibly as part of the proposed new Roads Agency.